MSF and Protection: Pending or Closed?

So here is a report on protection.

To embark upon a study of this theme is to enter a field strewn with contradictory representations linked to a highly sensitive issue – the limits of our responsibility – that has generated endless disagreements and debates on our “identity” and the existence or non- existence of a role for MSF “beyond care”. It also confronts us with the reactions – sometimes ironical or sceptical – of those who claim that we “don’t do protection”, while others express surprise and see no cause for argument, or lament the fact that MSF no longer “bears witness”. Whatever the case, it is clear that a need to explore this field is now emerging, and it is significant that it is doing so at the very time when protection has become omnipresent in the discourse surrounding our action – whether in calls for the “protection of civilians” in Darfur or in the growing number of humanitarian organizations which claim to be “doing protection”.